tution; he had even talked to Sherman; and he made up his mind that if ever an opportunity came, he would ask for an appointment. When Philip was seventeen the opportunity did come ; the youth, whom General Richey, then a member of Congress, had recommended failed in his examinations, Phil asked for and got the appointment. Though his mother protested against the boy’s becoming a soldier when she had gentler pursuits in mind for him, she was genuinely proud to know that her son had been elevated to so high a post by a gentleman of such distinction in the state as General Richey.
Every one knows of the contribution to American history made by General Philip Sheridan; of his dashing and splendid victories; of his being made general of the United States Army ; of his subsequent mission to Europe where he was feted and honored by the great warriors of his day.
But few know of the humble little Irish woman who saw to it that the boy improved his time and talents; who educated herself even while doing all the menial work for a large family. Few know of her devotion to her adopted country even though she never gave up her love for her native land. Never a soldier who came to her door that was turned away empty-handed; and never an Irishman fleeing from the pestilence and famine with which Ireland was beset, but what was given a haven in the Sheridan home as long as he wanted it.
General Phil Sheridan was known for his fearlessness— a trait which he might well have inherited from his mother. Survivors of the Sheridan family are fond of telling how, when Micheal Sheridan, the youngest of the family, was a baby, he attempted to make friends with a baby pig. The mother of the brood was near. Enraged at the intrusion, the sow rushed on the child and seized his hand in her savage jaws. Mary Sheridan, hearing the child’s scream, rushed out, threw herself between the boy and enraged sow, and by sheer force of will wrenched the animal’s jaws open the while she got the frightened child to pull his hand out. The Sheridan children remembered to the end of their days this illustration of their mother’s bravery. Who shall say that she was not the guiding star in General Sheridan’s achievements?
Besides her illustrious son Philip, Mary Sheridan gave two other sons to the service of her country. John and Micheal Sheridan, both fought on the Northern side during the Civil War, John as a private; Micheal as a colonel. She lived to see them return ; she lived to see the honors which were heaped on her sons, especially on General Philip Sheridan. She died in 1888 only a short time before death took also the famous and dashing “ Colonel Phil.”
A gallant and quick-witted woman was MARY HUMBARGER COEBORN, but one whose gallantry and sharp wit might never have become known had she not been married to one Ephriam Colborn, one of Perry County’s foremost citizens in his day.
